Here how it will go, I used my special powers and predicted the future so that people can finally stop worrying:
- US announces new harsh sanctions on Chinese IC industry
- SDF hyperventilation (current time, we are at this stage)
- China's response will be hidden from plain sight
- Chinese foreign spokesman/woman says "we urge the American side to change course or they will have to face the collective will of 1.4 billion Chinese people"
- Global Times editorial "America shows its unreliability, domestic companies will benefit, US should focus on its own issues and stop worrying about China"
- Xi-Biden meeting, China's foreign ministry statement, "Biden said he doesnt want a cold war, and he doesn't support Taiwan's independence". "Xi said he supports a win-win cooperative relationship with US and building a community with a shared future for mankind"
- The entire West, social media, think tankers ridicule China for its weak/no response to US actions
- SDF continues its hyperventilation
- 2-3 years later, a report comes out from a random Western organisation, "China is actually winning the tech war and EUV machine is ready"
- SDF relief, "we won, finally, the end!"
- Some months later, the US announces new extremely harsh sanctions on an unrelated industry that China still heavily depends on the US.
- SDF hyperventilation
- REPEAT from stage 3
This does seem to be China's standard script for dealing with US provocations.
Which makes it interesting that China reacted much more immediately and severely to Trump's tarriffs, with proportional retaliation and loud public denouncements, more like China's response to Pelosi's visit (red line crossed).
I wonder if it's because China knows "I'm not going to buy your stuff" is fundamentally a greater threat than "I'm not going to sell you stuff", because that's what China is doing to Australia with great effect.